POLICING AMERICA: SECURITY VS. LIBERTY
By: John Stossel
Where's the line between security and liberty? American police are now armed like the military; they use their power more often and forcefully than ever before. The state has new and expanding powers to spy on almost everything you do.
THE WARRIOR COP: SWAT teams were once called out only in emergencies. Now there are almost 100 raids a day. The weapons and tactics they use come straight from the military. Sometimes innocent people are killed. Why use so much force so often? What would you do if armed men in masks broke down your door in the middle of the night?
CONSTITUTION-FREE ZONES: Lots of Americans are getting upset about being detained by armed border patrol agents not on the border but miles away from the border. Some push back, sometimes with violent results.
MANDATORY MINIMUMS: Do mandatory minimum sentences work? Prosecutors like them because they give them more power when they plea bargain with suspects. But judges often object, and sometimes people serve long sentences for trivial crimes. Or no crime.
NSA SPYING: New revelations surface almost daily on ways the Feds spy on Americans. Does this make us safer? Or invade our privacy in destructive ways?
I SPY: Government spying is one thing. Now new, cheaper, "personal" drones make it easy for anyone to spy on anyone. Some say: "I've got nothing to hide. Why should I care?" But then why do you have drapes? Stossel goes to Florida to test the spying power of personal drones.
LEGALIZE WEED: Washington State and Colorado just legalized marijuana for recreational use. Could this be the start of America's trillion dollar drug-war coming to an end? Former advisor to the president Kevin Sabet says: "Colorado will show why legalizing marijuana is a mistake."
Wish we could embed video here....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoj4Kjk7JMThis aired on Fox News Channel this last Saturday and in case anyone isn't familiar, this channel is right wing central and hardly the audience that has any misconceptions about police in America. I think this is a huge step for the millions of right wing viewers to open up and see the big picture of the militarization of the domestic police that they aren't used to seeing. The host is John Stossel who has very interesting libertarian leanings and has been a star of the minute libertarian mainstream media for years and now has a weekend special on the main Fox channel. He does a great job of setting the issues up for the viewers - I believe we have a thread here about Fox viewers awareness of the issues.
